Faculty

Pema Gellek, Dean

Pema Gellek, M.A., is a disciple of her father, Tarthang Tulku, and Chadral Rinpoche, and studied Tibetan Buddhism at the Rangjung Yeshe Institute in Nepal. Working within her father’s mandala of organizations, she serves as a bridge between dharma in the East and West and has helped carry out Tarthang Tulku’s dharma activities in Asia for the past 20 years.Pema is also a filmmaker and director of Guna Foundationand has been a faculty member of Dharma College. She is co-dean at the Nyingma Institute and her areas of teaching at the Nyingma Institute are Buddhist Studies and Nyingma Psychology.

Faculty

Lama Palzang, Dean

Lama Palzang is a Nyingma lama who was born in the Gyarong region of Tibet, where from a very young age, he was trained in the dharma under Jigme Tenpa Dargye Rinpoche. He was formally educated at Minyak Lhagang Monastery in Kham and trained in the Longchen Nyingtik tradition under his root teachers, Khenchen Chodrak Rinpoche and Kyabje Chatral Rinpoche. He completed a traditional three year retreat under Kyabje Chatral Rinpoche in Beyul Yolmo, Nepal. Since 2002, Lama Palzang has assisted Tarthang Rinpoche with large-scale dharma projects in Asia. Lama Palzang teaches classes on Buddhist Studies and Nyingma Meditation and guides traditional dharma retreats at the Institute.

Faculty

Peggy Kincaid, Instructor

Peggy Kincaid began teaching Kum Nye at the Nyingma Institute in 1994. She completed the 6 month Human Development Training along with three extensive Kum Nye Teacher Trainings. Peggy is a psychotherapist in private practice. She has a Masters Certification in Intuition Medicine which also helps her understand how energy moves through the body.

Faculty

Santosh Philip, Instructor

Santosh Philip, M.A, an architect and entrepreneur, has studied Nyingma teachings since 1995. His primary teaching area is Kum Nye, where he conveys his considerable love and respect for Tibetan Yoga self-massage and movement practices to his students, both at the advanced and introductory levels. Nearly every Sunday throughout the year, Santosh and fellow Kum Nye instructors alternate teaching a drop-in Kum Nye morning class from ten to Noon; Santosh also teaches Nyingma Practices classes, including classes in dream yoga.

Faculty

Donna Morton, Instructor

Donna Morton, PT, NC, a physical therapist and nutritional consultant, has been a student of the Nyingma teachings since 1997. In 2001, she completed the Institute’s 6-month Human Development Training Program. Since that time she primarily teaches in the area of Kum Nye, a gentle form of Tibetan Yoga developed for Westerners by Head Lama Tarthang Tulku. With a particular interest in health and wellness education, she has developed and is now guiding a series of 6 monthly Wellness Weekends, covering a range of wellness topics.

Faculty

Ken McKeon, Instructor

Ken McKeon, M.A., a student of Tarthang Tulku since the 1970’s, is a highly regarded poet and a devoted High School teacher. His love of both the English language and the possibilities for human growth inherent in explorations of meaning, led him early on to become first a student, and then a teacher of the Time, Space, and Knowledge vision. Ken brings a sense of wonder and delight to his classes at the Institute, as he guides students through their own journey into mind and human consciousness.

Faculty

Barr Rosenberg, Instructor

Barr Rosenberg, Ph.D., has been a student of Tibetan Lama Tarthang Tulku since the early 1970’s. He is a member of the Yeshe De translation team, and is a successful entrepreneur. Barr taught for many years at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, has taught at the Nyingma Institute since 1982, and served as Co-Dean of the Nyingma Institute from 1999-2016. He regularly teaches courses at the Institute in Nyingma Meditation, Buddhist Studies, and Tibetan Art and Language.

Faculty

Olivia Hurd, Instructor

Olivia Hurd, B.F.A, is a textile artist and retired children’s publisher, co-founder of the Peaceable Kingdom Press. She is a long-time meditation practitioner, and has been a student at the Nyingma Institute for over 20 years. She teaches Beginning and Intermediate Nyingma Meditation, Nyingma Psychology, and Buddhist Studies classes, as well as workshops and retreats at the Institute.

Faculty

Hugh Joswick, Instructor

Hugh Joswick, Ph.D., has been studying at the Nyingma Institute since the mid-1990’s. While working full-time outside the Institute, Hugh volunteers many hours a week in various capacities to help the Institute function more effectively and to bring his skill with photography and computer technology to bear on Institute projects. Trained as a Philosophy Professor, Hugh is a devoted practitioner of meditation and a continuing student of Nyingma teachings. He brings a gentle technique and a skillful style of inquiry to teaching Nyingma Meditation at the Intermediate level.

Faculty

Mark Henderson, Instructor

Mark Henderson, J.D., LL.M. has been a student of Tibetan Lama Tarthang Tulku for many years. Once a full-time attorney, Mark made the commitment several years ago to give up his law practice and become a full-time volunteer at the Nyingma Institute. Since then, he has helped in many capacities to complete projects such as prayer wheels. Mark teaches classes in Beginning and Intermediate Tibetan Language, and also in Buddhist Studies.

Faculty

Erika Rosenberg, Instructor

Erika Rosenberg, Ph.D. is a research psychologist in human emotions who brings an expertise in both Western and Eastern psychology to her teaching at the Nyingma Institute. She is the co-author of Psychology: Making Connections, a college-level textbook that includes sections on meditation. Erika has studied and practiced Tibetan Buddhism for more than 20 years. A regular lecturer and leader of graduate-level seminars, she teaches Nyingma Psychology courses at the Institute and is also an Instructor in the Institute’s Continuing Legal Education program.

Faculty

Bob Byrne, Instructor

Bob has two agricultural degrees and a Master’s from Johns Hopkins SAIS in International Relations. A student of Rinpoche since 1969, he first taught here at the NI in 1972. His passion for Buddhist Studies and Nyingma practices has been evident throughout his adult life. After a successful career in business Bob and his spouse Renie Byrne co-directed Dharma Publishing from 1998 – 2003; Bob also served as an advisor for TAP from around 1994 – 1997. Bob and Renie are now active in a biodynamic compost business.

Faculty

Mollie Hughes, Instructor

Mollie Hughes has trained in Nyingma studies at the Nyingma Institute since 2007, with a focus on Dharma Studies, Meditation, and Tibetan Language. Before her studies at the Institute she graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1966 with a BA in English and worked in the publishing field as an editor and proofreader until 1984, when she changed fields to work with children with mental disorders. In 1991 she completed a Master’s Degree in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology and was later hired by Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (Berkeley, California) to do social work for homeless adults with severe mental disorders and drug abuse issues. She is now retired from this position and teaches Intermediate Tibetan Language classes at the Nyingma Institute.

Faculty

Abbe Blum, Instructor

Abbe Blum holds a B.A. from UC Berkeley, an M.A. from Cambridge University, England, where she was a Marshall scholar, and a Ph.D. in English literature from Yale University. As an Associate Professor at Swarthmore College, she taught Shakespeare and intensive writing seminars, and she currently teaches in the School of Psychology and Interdisciplinary Inquiry at Saybook University. She has been studying Buddhism since the 1970’s, and has taught at various TNMC locations since 1998.

Faculty

Pauline Yu, Instructor

Pauline Yu completed Nyingma Institute’s 1,200 hour program, Path and Practices of Liberation, in 2010. She started practicing meditation in 2006, and has worked full-time in the TNMC community since 2007. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a major in Art History and minor in Philosophy.

Faculty

Elissa Slanger, Instructor

Elissa Slanger, Ph.D., has studied at the Nyingma Institute since 1982. Dr. Slanger brings a wealth of experience to her teaching from her professional work as a practicing clinical psychologist, artist, and author. An octogenarian, Dr. Slanger speaks from her own experience on how Nyingma teachings positively affect how we age and how we cope with the losses and disabilities that come with aging. She leads workshops and retreats that bring the value of meditation and Nyingma Psychology to bear on the aging process and also offers workshops for those in the healing professions.

Faculty

Dave Abercrombie, Instructor

Dave Abercrombie, B.S., is an entrepreneur and computer programmer who has studied Nyingma teachings for more than five years. Dave teaches Skillful Means classes, drawing upon his own experience in bringing these teachings into the workplace. His Institute teaching allows him to share with his students his particular passion for utilizing work to benefit the world.